


something better here for you and me

by OldGreggGroupie



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Rocky Horror Picture Show
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Don't Worry About It, High School AU, M/M, also very gratuitous rhps references, background benverly, but there are GRATUITOUS miniseries references lmao, rhps shadowcast au, richie and beverly are in a shadowcast together, this is a 90s au so it's canon timeline but like? they're older
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27319558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldGreggGroupie/pseuds/OldGreggGroupie
Summary: Eddie figures out how Richie spends his weekends.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	something better here for you and me

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!
> 
> Uh!!! Straight up this is just for me and just my Niche Interest Overlap, but I started out in 2011 writing Rocky Horror fanfiction, and this is kind of just??? A lovely dedication to that! This contains VERY gratuitous RHPS references but it genuinely just?? Reminds me of what I used to write in the most excellent way, and come ON, two fandoms with Tim Curry as a main character, how could I resist?
> 
> Title is taken from Brad’s verse in Over At the Frankenstein place, referring to how RHPS shadowcasts and showings were a safe space for queer folks in the late 80s/90s.

“So, um… _do_ you actually know what Bev and I do on the weekends?”

The question had come innocently enough. They were sitting on Richie’s bed, taking a little break from their homework as Richie looked through his record collection and Eddie got the rest of his books from his bag. 

It had been hesitant, almost muttered to himself as he flipped through one of the crates, moving past some quicker than others. As Eddie looked up at him, flashes of red and pink were gone, faces, and maybe lips. Richie was peculiar about his music… and there was so, so much that Eddie didn't know about Richie. That Richie didn’t want him to know. 

“Not… really?” Eddie moved back up, putting the rest of his books onto the bed and then leaning back, just watching the other teen flip through the collection. “From what I’ve pieced together, though? I didn’t really think it was a big deal. Movie night in Bangor, I guess.”

That got a laugh, at the very least. “It’s a movie. It’s… definitely a movie.” Another awkward laugh, then, and there was silence until Richie opened up a vinyl seemingly good enough to study to, and returned back to his bed to sit with Eddie, knee pressed to thigh, always casual touching. “It’s, um, a shadow cast. We dress up as the characters and like, perform as the movie while it’s happening.”

“Oh, rad.”

“Yeah.” 

Eddie looked up from the book, then, studying Richie for just a moment. This was odd. Richie didn’t act like this. He hadn’t gotten his nickname for nothing, after all, and Richie Trashmouth Tozier didn’t act shy. He didn’t act ashamed and self-censor every word.

  
  


“I do think it’s really cool, actually, that you guys do something like that.”

“Yeah.” Richie nodded slowly, letting the conversation die for just a moment, though it was fairly easy to tell he still had something on his mind. “Ben comes too, you know, to like, look at Bev. So if _you_ would want to come, you’d like, have a friend, you wouldn’t just be sitting alone.”

“You’re inviting me?”

“If you want to come.”

“Why are you acting so weird?”

“Because it’s weird.” Richie shrugged, then. It was the truth, wasn’t it? There was a certain side of him Eddie knew about, and there was a side that the rest of the shadowcast knew about. They didn’t interact.

Richie would like to think they didn’t interact, but of course, they did. Any time Richie ruffled his hair, refused to get out of the hammock so they would sit together, kicked him under the table and let his foot linger for just a moment too long… Richie had always told himself that was his weird side. That was the side he could only show only in a shitty theater in Bangor, while the other side was for everywhere else.

“So?” Eddie looked back up from his book, then, cocking an eyebrow. “ _You’re_ weird.”

“This is weirder than usual.” 

Eddie snorted. “Guess we’ll see.”

* * *

“Oh, fuck you, no, turn this shit off!”

Bev laughed wildly, slapping Richie’s hand away, not even looking away from the road. She did this often, it seemed. “Fuck you, Trashmouth, we have guests.”

“Yeah, guests with good music taste, we can play some _real_ music instead of this shit that’s on the radio, come on.”

“This is Eddie’s first time! At least let him have some normal music before your dick’s in his face!”

Ben couldn’t restrain his laughs at this point, exchanging a knowing glance with Beverly in the rearview mirror. Richie and Eddie, however, went mainly silent, looking across to each other. There had been a fight when they had first gotten in. Wentworth’s car (that Richie should not have been legally allowed to drive at night, which is why Bev usually took the wheel) was a bit of a tight squeeze, and since Eddie had the shortest legs, it would have been most reasonable for him to sit behind Richie… but at it worked out, the pairs just sat across from each other, almost naturally. It was easier, then, to just exchange glances, meet eyes in the rearview mirror, to just be.

As they continued laughing, Richie laughed along for a few seconds, mockingly, before letting out a grunt. “Yeah, what-fucking-ever, keep listening to the poser music.”

Eddie tried to chuckle along as well, but slowly spoke up. “Uh… so what is this movie about, actually?”

Silence in the car. 

“I don’t, um, I’m not actually going to get my dick out?” Richie laughed awkwardly, speaking on in spite of Bev’s stifled laugh. “It’s about a couple, they’re lost, they find a house in the woods owned by me, my character. There are no on-screen dicks, my dick stays firmly in my… pants,” he said, after a moment of hesitation, causing Beverly to finally crack up.

“It’s not that bad, Eddie. Seriously. It stars that guy from the shitty clown show that Richie liked a few years back.”

“First of all, fuck you, it was a _mini-series,_ and secondly? It wasn’t even that bad. I watched it for Tim Curry, sure, but the clown was freaky as shit, I wouldn’t want to fuck with it.”

“The movie was pretty bad,” Ben stated with a laugh, though he had to admit… looking out the car windows while talking about it just made him uncomfortable. He had no idea why.

“If by bad you mean scary, then yeah, jackass.”

“Richie, we’re almost at our exit, don’t you have something else to be doing, not torturing the poor new souls?”

Richie’s laugh trailed off quickly, and it was back. That awkwardness, that… shame. Eddie had only seen it a few times before that week. Richie had never been one to show his feelings well, that was a given. Even as a kid, he would rather risk infection that let someone put a Band-Aid on him, just to avoid that split second of vulnerability. Maybe making friends with the hypochondriac had helped that, but that vulnerability was still only for Eddie.

Maybe that’s what was so unsettling about all of this. Eddie was learning that Richie was keeping secrets from him, too.

Though Eddie was aware Richie had secrets, everyone did, he hardly ever acted like this around Eddie… but Eddie was starting to place the emotion, anyway. It was that same tension he had in his jaw when talking to Bowers, that same slump in his shoulders that he had had for almost an entire week after his “incident” at the arcade, that Richie refused point-blank to talk about. It was shame, and Richie was afraid.

“Oh, yeah. Right.” He looked absolutely constipated as he leaned down to his backpack, pulling a little bag out. Eddie watched curiously, trying to identify the small, flat piece of plastic, only noticing it was eyeshadow when Richie flicked up the lid, turned on one of the interior lights, and got to work. 

Eddie sat back, mesmerized. Derry was only about thirty minutes away from Bangor, they were already about ten minutes in, but Eddie was sure Richie could do this in under five. He was an expert, he knew all the bumps in the road, his hand stayed steady even as he chat with Beverly, and pretended he didn’t hum along to the radio. 

It took Richie a while to actually meet Eddie’s eyes in the mirror, but when he did, he laughed a little sheepishly, the tube of lipstick pausing in the middle of his lip. “Oh, uh.” He laughed again, pressing his lips together to try and blend the colors, smile still a little strained. “You have to admit, man. I look good.”

* * *

By the time they got to the showing, they were already ‘fashionably’ late. It was still a bit before the movie started, but when a girl in a maid’s uniform walked out and started yelling at Beverly to get in costume, Eddie figured that Beverly and Richie had missed the time when the performers had needed to be there, by quite a bit.

Still, it works out better this way, Ben had told him. Meeting the cast right now, before the show, would be a little intense… and it was nice to have the surprise, see what all the characters looked like when they came on screen. He didn’t know Richie was still uncomfortable with Eddie seeing him, and wanted to avoid that conversation, if at all possible.

He had to admit, however, chatting with Ben in the seats did well to quell some of his nerves, even as a scantily-clad woman came up to him, asked if he knew Richie, and then practically straddled him to draw a _V_ in bright red lipstick on his forehead.

Eddie could have choked. He barely liked his friends getting this close to him, let alone strangers who could have been anywhere, _had_ anything, how could she just intrude on his personal space like this, and what was she even putting on his head, surely that wasn’t sanitary, surely that was--

“You know,” she said lightly, leaning back with a bright smile to admire her work. “He’s being a prick about it, but he really is excited to see you here, Eddie.”

That, at least, got a moment of pause, and a happy laugh from Ben.

“How did she know my name?”

“Looks like Richie’s back there talking about you,” Ben said with a chuckle, opening up their prop bag to make sure everything was in order, but mainly to ignore Eddie’s shocked expression. “They’re going to start phasing the virgins soon,” Ben explained quietly. “You don’t have to go up--a word to the wise, I would recommend you wouldn’t. Bev made me go up there the first time she took me to a show, when we first started dating. It was hell,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t think Richie has the balls to call you up like Bev did, so you should be good.”

“I mean yeah, true, it’s not like we’re dating.”

“Yeah.” Ben nodded slowly. “Regardless, I think you’re safe, they can’t force you to do anything, so.”

Eddie nodded, still a little hesitant, chatting with Ben until the virgins were called up to dance, and Eddie sunk down in his seat. There was a part of him, just a bit, that itched to be up there. He couldn’t, of course. If people took pictures, if that somehow got back to his mother… even if Eddie was in normal clothes at the start, the people on stage were starting to strip, and if his mother saw that… Eddie was sure he would never be allowed to leave the house again. Hadn’t his mother already said his friends were corrupting him? 

Had Ben done this his first time? Hell, had _Richie_ done this his first time? That much made his head swim. 

And though everyone clapped when the ‘virgins’ sat down, it paled in comparison to the cheers that came out when the lights went off, and a pair of big, red lips appeared on the screen. 

Eddie had to admit, he was captivated. The shouting was hard to get used to, but he had been warned about that much. He couldn’t understand a majority of the callout lines, everything coming out all at once and jumbled together, but wasn’t he assured that just added to the experience? 

For the most part, it seemed like a cheesy sci-fi film that Richie would take them to, anyway. He didn’t seem like much of a musical guy, but they were here, nonetheless. Eddie could see the appeal, sure, but he could see why Richie liked it as well. The first song already had references to all the old movies Richie liked, _King Kong, Tarantula!_ , every creature feature that Richie had smuggled them into for the price of one ticket. 

Or did Richie like them _because_ he had heard them in the song?

There seemed to be dancing as well, Eddie figured, watching the shadowcast and around half the audience break into that same dance they had made the “virgins” do, just grateful that Ben remained seated beside him.

Of course, when Beverly came on stage, Ben quickly got elbowed to the gut. Eddie couldn’t help it, he was half in shock! She had changed backstage--unlike Richie, she couldn’t exactly do her makeup in the car--but Eddie could admit, she looked beautiful, even if the outfit was a bit odd. All of them were odd.

And when Eddie leaned over, half to tell Ben that, half to mock him for blushing, Ben just laughed, and clapped him on the shoulder. 

“Just wait until you see Richie, man.”

Somehow, that wasn’t reassuring.

It didn’t take long.

As the Time Warp ended, another beat started up, slow and subtle. Eddie almost didn’t notice until Janet screamed, and a familiar mop of curly black hair was centered in front of the stage.

It was Richie, but different, in so many ways. He’d most noticeably shed his glasses, donning contacts instead, to show off the deep, smoky eye makeup. Though it had looked red in the car, from this far back, his lips looked a deep black, the same color as his cloak--

Which was quickly thrown off, and Eddie felt faint. 

There stood Richie in a black corset, panties, garter, and fishnets. Eddie could barely think. Barely hear, even, the movie had gone completely silent, and the sound of Ben’s wild laughter beside him only vaguely graced his ears. This was too much. Eddie was sure he had blushed as deep red as Richie’s lipstick, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

He’s sure he blacks out, really.

He enjoys the rest of the movie, even getting emotional when Richie falls at the end, but his brain is still lagging behind his body, trying to process what he had just seen. After all, the only thing on his mind was Richie, any time he was on screen.

* * *

About an hour later, Eddie took his seat at the Denny’s.

They were in a big enough group that they had to push tables together, but the wait staff didn’t seem to mind, or even notice. With how many cast members greeted their waitress by name, it was obvious just how often they were here this late. 

Still, even in a bigger crowd in Bangor… the mood wasn’t up again until they were seated together, talking. Rocky, to them, was safety in numbers.

Conversation slowly picked up. Eddie got to chatting with some of the Transylvanians, he laughed when they threw sugar packets and squirted ketchup at each other, but the silent force beside him remained stronger. 

As soon as he had put on the sweatpants over his fishnets, Richie had shrunk in on himself. Everyone had in some way, sure. Though it was better than Derry, even Bangor wasn’t a safe place for a boy in makeup to walk around at night. But still, sitting in the fluorescents of the diner, the rest of the cast had increased their volume, their laughter, their energy. And with a few looks from Bev, Eddie nudged Richie under the table, only to have him practically jump out of his skin.

“Are you okay?”

“What? Oh, totally, Eds! Just a little spacy, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” Richie laughed, but there was something else hidden in it, still. His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

Eddie nodded, not that convinced, but he let it go, even as Richie deflated when Eddie turned away again, and they both had to pretend it was normal.

It was funny, because really, when Richie was playing Frank, he wasn’t acting. That was just Richie up there. He was that confident, that flirty, that mouthy. It was this, this anxiety and uncertainty that Eddie wasn’t used to, even if it has plagued their interactions the past few days. 

Finally, about halfway through his dinner, Eddie couldn’t take it anymore. He nudged Richie, who jumped once more, and pushed his plate over. “Finish my fries, I can’t. Too greasy this time of night.”

Richie just shrugged, taking one or two. “You can save them if they’ll still be good. I’m, uh, about to go to the bathroom to take some of my makeup off. If I go into my house like this and Mags’ picture of Jesus looks me in the eye, I’ll just burst into flames right there.” He chewed for a moment, before clearing his throat. “And you should probably come with me to let me wipe your shit off, too. Your mom would freak if she saw the lipstick.”

Eddie nodded slowly, just thinking. It was a joke, obviously, but Richie was right. After standing up, and getting a few more pointed looks from Beverly, Richie led him back to the bathroom, not even looking around for it. It was clear, really, they knew this place. Beverly knew the route to Bangor like the back of her hand, they both knew the theater, knew the stage, knew the 24-hour diners around... How long had they been doing this without anybody knowing? How long had Richie kept this a secret? 

  
  


As they stepped in the bathroom, Richie turned the lock on the door, and he shrugged. "They lock it when they clean, I think. None of my business. If someone needs to piss, they can use the ladies." He shot a grin at Eddie, and though it wasn't all there, it was the closest he had gotten all night. 

Eddie just laughed back, heading to one of the sinks and grabbing a makeup wipe from Richie, starting to scrub at the V.

"Do I have it all?"

Richie looked over at him, only one eye's worth of makeup removed, and scoffed. "Well how the hell am I supposed to know, you made your whole face red. Here," he said, grabbing another clean wipe, stepping forward, and gently starting to wipe at Eddie’s forehead. 

Had Richie put on blush Eddie hadn’t remembered? Had the lipstick spread while eating? That much was surely impossible… but it didn’t account for how red Richie’s cheeks were. 

“So,” Richie started quietly, looking anywhere other than Eddie’s eyes. “You can be honest, now. Did you like the movie?”

Eddie paused. “Honest? If you want me to be _honest_ , I didn’t pay a lot of attention, I was too distracted.”

Richie chuckled then, stepping back, and discarding the cloth. “Yeah, I get that. It’s loud in there.” He paused for a moment more, still nodding in agreement, clear he wanted, _needed_ to keep talking, but couldn’t find the words. “I mean, yeah, yeah. It’s super cool if you didn’t like it, though, or even the atmosphere? Because like I said, it’s… loud, you know? And it’s super cool if you think it’s weird or boring, it attracts like a really specific type of crowd, and I know it’s a really weird one, but--”

“No, it was cool, actually.” 

“Oh. But if it’s not--”

“Richie,” Eddie said, cutting him off once more. “I’m serious, I think it was cool. The callout lines didn’t even bug me, I just think it’s cool you’ve found a place where you feel at home, and you feel comfortable enough to be yourself.” And then, after a pause, “even if you look better with the glasses.” 

Richie hesitated for a moment, unsure he heard the words right, before he breaks out into a happy peal of laughter. And just like that, he was transformed into himself once more. His smile reached his eyes, he showed off his toothy grin, and his shoulders came down from where they had been tucked so close to his ears in anxiety. He blossoms with the words, opening up to Eddie again, where so much of him had been closed off. Just those words had made him feel comfortable and happy.

“Listen!” Richie laughed brightly, slinking close to Eddie once more, both of them suddenly aware how much space he’d been putting between them. “If I wear the glasses, they’re too big! I learned how to do eyeliner for this and I’ll be fucked if no one is able to see it,” he said cheerily, clapping Eddie on the arm. 

And instead of letting it drop, it sat there.

And moved slowly down Eddie’s forearm.

And Eddie was sure his mind blanked once more, like it had when Richie first ripped his cloak off.

“Either way, I think you looked good tonight. Like, really good. You were… kind of the reason it was hard to focus on the movie.”

“Yeah. Uh, thank you, yeah, I…” He trailed off a little, letting out a nervous laugh. He was closer now. “Can I..?”

“Yeah.”

Richie couldn’t hesitate then, he had been pensive long enough. He leaned forward, pressing a shy kiss to Eddie’s lips. It was gentle, shallow, just testing the waters, but it made Eddie’s heart race. This was Richie, in his truest form, finally comfortable enough to be himself. 

When Richie pulled away, they stayed there, close, for a long moment, before he let out another little laugh. “Oh, great,” he mumbled, barely above a whisper. “Well now I’m going to have to wipe all that off as well.”

Eddie laughs, and wraps his arms up around Richie’s neck, pulling him in once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for getting this far!! If you’d like, my Tumblr is mysticaltragedyturtle and my admittedly much messier It sideblog is put-a-token-in-my-slot! Stop around to say hi if you’d like!! Thank you for reading!


End file.
